BILL BLOG
Monday February 26, 2024
Monday morning in Music City y’all with a beautiful spring like day on tap. Sunny with a high of 74 today. And we’re just one place that’s going through a warming trend in the country. Over 300 warm records are being broken this month across the country according to those folks in the know.
THE WEEKEND
Mine started Friday morning with a writing session alongside my American Idol friend Alex Miller. It’s always fun creating something with this talented young man.
Alex and his band were just a few short miles from their home in Kentucky a couple of weeks ago when a driver swerved right into the path of the bus that Alex’s Dad was driving that killed the driver of the other vehicle instantly. Nobody on the bus including Alex had any injuries but the bus is pretty much beyond repair. Can’t imagine. So we spent some time talking about that…and how your life can change on a dime and then wrote a song that addresses that thought a bit. And it also includes a touching verse about his Grandmother who is still living that he loves.
Would not be surprised to see Alex record this one day. If you like real country music, you’ll love Alex. Go check him out if he get near you.
LAST NIGHT
I played a wonderful songwriter concert with my buddy Steve Dean in Franklin, Tennessee for the West Haven songwriter series there.
I’d not been to Westhaven somehow but man is it a gorgeous, planned community. Beautiful homes, a lot of front porches, a lot of folks out walking their dogs on the pristine sidewalks in their neighborhood. As I said on stage, “I’ve never seen so many good looking doublewides in one place.
I got to the show, opened the hatch on my SUV and had a heart attack as somehow I LEFT my guitar home! And home was 50 minutes away. What to do? I called my friend and co-writer and former American Idol star Lauren Mascitti and her Nana as I knew they were coming. She had already left the house, but they had a friend who lived in West Haven who had a guitar. So Jim Scarborough came to the show with his wife and gave me his beautiful Taylor guitar to play. And then another gentleman saw I had no tuner or capo for the guitar and he walked to his home in the community and grabbed those for me. THANK YOU! It’s good to have good friends like Lauren.
The show itself was just terrific. Steve and I played 90 minutes to a PACKED house of folks who live in the community who were so into the songs and the show. We did not want it to end.
My thanks to Kelly Nakamoto for adding me and Steve to their lineup at this beautiful venue... and we hope to be back again next year.
NEW DATES
I found out over the weekend that I’ll be playing thePensacola Beach Songwriters Festival October 1-6 this year. I played it one year a bunch of years ago so I look forward to being there again on the beach with a bunch of great writers. I know for sure I’ll be playing one bluegrass show with some bluegrass legends like Jerry Salley, Larry Cordle, Ronnie Bowman, Billy Droze, and others. That should be a special evening. I’ll be getting more details to post as we get closer to the festival dates.
NEXT DATE
That would be the Freedom Sings USA Veteran Nurses Retreat that I’ll be at in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Monday March 4, and Tuesday March 5 where myself and 4 other Nashville songwriters will sit with a VA Nurse and convert their stories in to songs that will be performed in concert Tuesday evening March 5. It’s free and open to the public. Details are on my TOUR section here on the website.
HEALTH NOTES
More and more knee replacement surgeries are requiring follow-up operations when post-op complications arise. That rate will be up 180% by 2030.
There’s an AI powered app on the way that will be able to screen diabetes 2 using just a 6-10 second voice clip.
A new study says that adding salt t meals boost kidney disease risk by 11%.
THIS GUY TOOK IT LITERALLY
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
You’ve probably read about the Eagles trial over a guy trying to sell Don Henley’s lyrics and notes on the song “Hotel California”. Those 13 pages were just valued at $700,000. I get it. That song would be in my top 5 for favorite songs of all time. It’s like a movie in a song. Don Felder had the melody, and Don Henley and Glen Frey went off and wrote the incredible lyrics over the top of it.
I still have the album…on vinyl with that great cover shot. And anytime it pops up on the radio I crank the volume up. I got to see the Eagles “live” before Glen Frey. Best concert I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen a few. And when they played that song the roof almost came off in Milwaukee where I saw the show.
SELF-CHECKOUT
More and more of those are apparently going away. Walmart is looking now at getting rid of more of them as stealing has become such an issue in retail stores. Having a living clerk checking the bags may help stop some of that. I don’t like standing in long lines, but I’m certainly not a fan of the self-checkouts.
SAD NEWS
We got word over the weekend that Wanda Seay passed. Most of you won’t know Wanda but she and her husband forever Terry host one of the great house concerts in this country at their home in Franklin, Tennessee. When they built a new home…they built an addition that was dedicated to songwriting concerts that they have been holding once a month forever. I’ve played there several times, with several different songwriters.
Wanda LOVED songwriters…and music. She and Terry befriended a large part of the songwriting community in Nashville. On more than once occasion they’d show up to support me when I played at the Bluebird Café, the Country Music Hall of Fame and at songwriter festivals and other venues.
She always greeted everyone with a smile and was just so sweet. You could not help but love being around her. My prayers to her husband Terry and the family. Just sad.
I NEED THE RIGHT NUMBERS
Mega Millions is worth 563 million right now…the 8th highest pot ever. If you’ve got any lucky numbers…feel free to send them. This is still one of the funniest “takes” on winning the lottery I’ve ever heard from my funny comedian friend James Gregory.
WOULD YOU WEAR YOUR PHONE?
Apparently Motorola is developing a cell phone that you can wrap around your wrist. There’s not been a high demand for that…and it may not make the market. Sort of a cell-smart-watch if you will. I somehow don’t see me wearing my phone as a bracelet.
EV’S
The car industry folks reportedly have a new battery that costs half of what they’ve cost before. That means that EV cars could become cheaper than our gasoline powered cars. Will that make you want to consider one? Hmmm.
RODNEY
Just a funny line from comedian Rodney Dangerfield about his family.
“I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the West.”
TODAY
A very busy Monday is on tap. This morning I’m writing with Kristen Bearfield who’s going to be hosting a new cable TV show based on faith and country.
So she and I and Bob Minner (Tim McGraw’s longtime guitar player) will sit down together and try to write that theme song, but also write it as a full song as well.
It will be my first time collaborating with Bob, so I’m looking forward to the challenge
TONIGHT
I’ll be online writing with my bluegrass friends Darin and Brooke Aldridge who’s new album is about to be released that will feature a couple of songs I helped write.
So yea, a busy day. Think I’ll drink a couple extra cups of coffee today.
Have a great Monday!
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